Harold Landry, EDGE
School: Boston College | Conference: ACC
College Experience: Senior | Age: 21
Height / Weight: 6-2 / 252 lbs
Projected Draft Status: 1st Round
NFL Comparison: Ryan Anderson
College Statistics
Player Overview
Harold Landry was a 4-star prospect from Fayetteville, North Carolina who decided Boston College was the right program for him after receiving a flurry of offers including some football powerhouses such as Clemson, Ohio State, Florida State, and Auburn to name a few. Landry got to work immediately and contributed during his freshman season. His sophomore year his coaches and teammates started talking about what a factor he was becoming with his increased playing time and production. His junior year he was the best pass rusher in the country and put up outstanding numbers. He returned for his senior season and while he still produced good numbers he came nowhere near his junior year career highs. Landry also missed 4 games with an ankle injury this past season. As far as playing style he has been compared to Von Miller and Vic Beasley.
Landry uses his impressive quickness athleticism and fluidity to beat offensive tackles rushing and creating pressure off the edge. Landry plays with rare flexibility and balance and when he is playing at his best can be nearly unstoppable. Landry has some non-trivial issues with his game as well. His play strength needs to improve to help him take on blocks and move linemen. He also can lose track of the run if he gets preoccupied with rushing into the backfield. He needs to develop a repertoire of pass rush moves and string them together. He dropped back into coverage some at Boston College but he also needs to improve his coverage technique. Though he played as a 4-3 DE in college he projects as a 3-4 OLB in the NFL. Landry has a near-elite set of pass rushing tools that need to be developed so he can use them consistently. He needs to learn how to play the run more effectively to be a complete OLB. The same goes for his coverage. There is no denying Landry’s potential. He should be able to contribute on day 1 for a team and develop into a high-quality player.
Strengths
- Excellent size, fluidity, and athleticism for the position.
- Can defacto win the leverage battle if he wins with quickness by getting and staying low while hugging the edge. Initial burst has the potential to end a play before it starts. Has great closing burst in the backfield.
- Showed really active and disruptive hands in 2016 at the LOS and when making tackle attempts. If he puts it together he can be a wrecking crew in the backfield in his TFL, Sack, and FF production.
- Plays with good effort and tenacity.
Weaknesses
- Not much of a factor against the run though it does look like he can set an edge. Mainly used as a rusher (as he should be) but can lose sight of the runner because his head is down.
- Height and length are lacking compared to other edge prospects. Needs to get stronger and work off blocks in the interior.
- Despite all his production still raw as a player and has a lot to refine regarding his technique and pass rush moves. Lacks consistency as a finisher in the backfield at times.
- Coverage ability is a bit of an unknown.
Let's see his work:
#BC DE Harold Landry has seen his stock rise in this pre-draft process. He recently visited the #Bills and #49ers, looking like a mid-first rounder. One team told me they don’t believe he gets to the hometown #Patriots at No. 23.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 18, 2018
Harold Landry posted great athletic numbers in every #RAS category but size.
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 18, 2018
Per @ITPylon:
"Very good pass rusher, shows elite upfield burst coming out of 2-point, 3-point, and 4-point stances with elite explosiveness and good pad level and has elite cornering ability" pic.twitter.com/ZaB86042in
Edge 1 Harold Landry. Not a sack, but pressure gets to the QB pic.twitter.com/CHNo8kdwDo
— Billy Marshall (@BillyM_91) September 16, 2017
When Harold Landry uses his hands - mixed in with his get off/loose hips to flatten to QB.. It’s beautiful to watch pic.twitter.com/7tnWg3xcqi
— Ben Fennell (@BenFennell_NFL) March 8, 2018
How He Would Fit On The Redskins
Unless the Redskins are practicing true BPA in round 1 you can make a lot of arguments against an EDGE so early. The team would have to be banking on Preston Smith or Kerrigan having an awful year or might have made up their mind about not paying Smith to take an EDGE so early and with the upside of Landry. There is little doubt in my mind that he will impact the NFL early on in his career. He has all the tools to become a dominant pass rusher he just needs coaching to channel and refine his skills. He could use a year in an NFL strength program too to add strength and help stop the run but his bread and butter would be as a pure rushing SOLB. I think Landry is a player with potential for double-digit sack seasons at the next level and while I would love to have him but I can’t see a circumstance where he makes it to pick 13 pending some strange unforeseen circumstance.